


oh moon child, your footsteps light up a path

by Tatsumaki_sama



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Families of Choice, Family Feels, Father-Daughter Relationship, Female Harry Potter, Friendship, Gen, Harry Potter was Raised by Other(s), Light Angst, Parent-Child Relationship, Protective Remus Lupin, Protectiveness, Raising Harry Potter, Remus Lupin Needs a Hug, Remus Lupin Raises Harry Potter, Remus Lupin has Self-Esteem Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:55:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29823195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tatsumaki_sama/pseuds/Tatsumaki_sama
Summary: Remus did not have much but he did have Harri. Always-a-female!Harry Potter
Relationships: Remus Lupin & Harry Potter, Remus Lupin & James Potter
Comments: 2
Kudos: 79





	oh moon child, your footsteps light up a path

**Author's Note:**

> Remus raising Harry brings me so much joy. And add in Fem!Harry and the events from the Prisoner of Azkaban with a bit of movie canon? *chef's kiss*

For the first week, Remus did not bother unpacking Harri's belongings from the bag that McGonagall had given him, filled with baby clothes and an assortment of little things scavenged from Godric's Hollow.

He was prepared at a moment's notice to make one careless mistake that would hurt Harri or one sign that Harri absolutely despised him and he would go knocking on Dumbledore's office door faster than he could say Apparition.

Remus had his speech planned out to say to Dumbledore when he would hand Harri back to him. How someone like him with his affliction would do more harm than good in raising a child. How there were dozens of more qualified people to be parents to the most wonderful little girl.

But every time he looked at Harri and she looked back at him with her bright green eyes and giggled and reached for him, his heart melted and suddenly, the thought of letting her go was unbearable.

Any and all assistance from Dumbledore and the remnants of the Order was a relief. Hagrid, Arabella Figg and even Dumbledore himself took turns in watching over Harri on the nights of the full moon. Hagrid in particular adored Harri, spoiling her with treats and giving her rides on his shoulder and Harri would grow up calling him her first friend.

Molly Weasley brought over several clothing, books and toys that her children no longer needed, or so she claimed. She invited him and Harri over to dinner every weekend and even though Remus kindly declined, she would find a way to send over packages of food for them.

Weeks rolled into months before Remus realized all of Harri's things were scattered around on his floor, tables and chairs, and he had fallen asleep on the couch with Harri drooling on his shirt, one arm unconsciously wrapping around her so that she wouldn't roll in her sleep and fall over, and that he was perfectly and terrifyingly content.

~.~.~

Harri was almost two years old when she referred to him as her father for the first time.

They were visiting Hagrid and Fang was slobbering over Harri and licking her ears and she shrieked with laughter.

“ Daddy! Daddy!” she playfully whined at him, begging for a rescue.

Harri's name for him, innocent and without any malicious intent, drove a spear through his chest.

Remus managed to pull himself together. “ No, sweetheart,” he said kindly. He was impressed that his voice didn't shake. “ I'm your Uncle Remus, remember?”

He had sat with her pouring over photos of James, Lily and Peter almost every day, pointing to each person and explaining to Harri who they were. Any pictures with Sirius in them were swiftly overlooked and ignored.

Harri would clap her hands and try to repeat after him and every moment was a delight in teaching her how to speak and hearing her babble and make all sorts of sounds.

But at this moment, he felt like he wanted to be sick.

That title belonged to James, not him. He did not deserve to be called that. He wasn't trying to replace James, he wasn't trying to make Harri forget about her real father.

James should be here, watching his daughter grow up, holding her hand as she learned to walk and laughing as she tried to turn all clothing, including his own, purple and pink because she didn't like any other color at the moment.

Not him.

“ Yeh can't keep doing this to yerself,” Hagrid finally said, startling him from his thoughts. Hagrid had settled Harri on his knee and had handed her a biscuit and Harri promptly forgot she called him Daddy as she happily nibbled away at it.

“ I'm not her father,” Remus croaked out.

“ But yeh're her father in everything but blood! Hardly think James would hate yeh for it.”

Remus was saved from answering when Harri loudly squealed, interrupting them, and she reached for him with fingers sticky with saliva and biscuit crumbs.

“ Unca Mus!” she giggled and Remus could breathe again.

~.~.~

Harri's hair was as unruly as James's was and any attempt to comb or flatten it was met with no success.

It was getting long and more than once, Remus did try to cut a few inches off but it grew back to its usual length the next day and he eventually gave up.

However, it would not do if Harri started going to school looking like some feral Pygmy Puff with her hair like that, he sternly told Harri as she grinned impishly.

So Remus tried his hand at braiding and tying her hair back. He had seen his mother and Lily do it several times before. Surely it couldn't be that hard.

Remus's first attempts at doing a braid was abysmal and left Harri's hair looking like a tangled, thorny bird's nest and plenty of flinching on Harri's end, even though she sat as still as she could and did not try to squirm away, not even once.

He had half a mind to use a Sleek-eazy hair potion but it was too costly for a long term solution. Not to mention, Muggles would notice the obvious difference when the effects wear off and start asking questions.

(the hair braiding books he ordered couldn't arrive any sooner, could they?)

At Harri's school, several girls jeered at Harri's hair, some boys made it a game to try to stick pencils in it and even the teachers snickered when they thought Harri couldn't hear them. Remus couldn't help but wince at his terrible handiwork every time he laid eyes on Harri's hair and how his failure to properly do her hair was unnecessarily burdening Harri and leaving her at the mercy of bullies and unkind words and a bad start to school.

Lily would have known what to do. She would have made Harri look so pretty and perfect and no one would have made fun of her.

But Harri bore it without any complaints.

“ _I_ like it,” she loudly said one day when Remus dropped her off at school. She shot a glare at a group of chortling girls. “ I like what you did with my hair today, Remus.”

It was times like this that he was reminded that Harri was all too much like her parents.

~.~.~

One weekend for Harri's eighth birthday, they went to London.

Harri was completely fascinated with all the cars and buildings and sights and all Remus could do was hold on to her to keep her from running and exploring and get lost.

Her hand fit easily into his and Harri's questions and curiosity about everything never failed to make him smile. He knew Lily had intended to raise Harri with knowledge of her Muggle heritage and Remus did the best he could with what he knew.

He only had a handful of pocket money left from this month's cheque, after paying the rent and spending on groceries, and having saving and scraped what he could from months earlier, just enough to split between the two of them for something special for today, a little something for Harri to buy as a gift and Remus already decided his share was going to go towards paying for dinner.

This was not the first time he wished he had more money, more of things to give to Harri who deserved the world and so much more.

Harri never complained and accepted whatever he could provide with the uttermost delight as if he had brought her all the riches and gems in the world and Remus was torn between feeling grateful for having such a wonderful girl and partly wishing she would resent him at least once for not doing more.

Remus refused to use James and Lily's Gringotts account for himself other than for clothing, essentials and school things for Harri. He would not dip into the money that rightfully belonged to Harri and should be saved for her when she actually needed it.

Molly, Hagrid and Dumbledore had reminded him several times that Harri might not have grown up pampered and spoiled but she was well loved and cared for and above all else, she was happy with him.

(he wanted to believe it, he desperately wanted it to be true, but he couldn't; if James and Lily and Peter were here, Harri would be far more happier)

They went to a Muggle boutiques where Harri was intrigued by the colorful assortment of bits and bobs inside and as he walked around, Remus's eye happened to spot a clutter of books about tips on parenting. Harri was getting close to that age, he mused wistfully, where she would be interested in boys and learning about becoming a young woman and dealing with teenage matters. He might as well brush up on his knowledge now.

He discreetly hid the book cover as Harri rushed up to him, beaming as she held up a dusty old flower starter kit as Harri always wanted a backyard garden like Mrs Weasley but they never had the space in their apartment. Professor Sprout would be pleased that Harri was having an interest in herbology so young.

The owner eyed the book as he scanned it. He glanced at Harri who had wandered off to inspect the posters near the front. “ For your little girl?” he gruffly said.

Remus made a slight choking sound.

“ Not my daughter,” he finally managed to say. “ My friend's. I'm looking after her.”

The man chuckled. “ You the godfather, then?”

Remus smiled tightly as he paid for the book. “ Something like that.”

~.~.~

Watching Harri leave to board the Hogwarts train was one of the hardest things to do, even if Remus had prepared himself for it for the last ten years.

Harri, looking both anxious and excited, gave him an extra long hug. “ I'll write every day,” she promised.

“ Write whenever you can. I'm sure you will be too busy with schoolwork and friends to write to an old person like me.”

“ You're not old at all! Dumbledore must be older!” Harri protested, making him laugh.

He really wasn't that old, he had just reached thirty, but the life expectancy of a werewolf was never high to begin with and on top of that, surviving a war and coming out on the other end with all his closest friends dead or imprisoned took its toll on him.

It should be Lily and James here and not him, giving their daughter last minute advice about Hogwarts. It should be James ruffling Harri's hair one last time and teasing her about staying out of trouble at least for one day and it should be Lily looking tearful and proud and fixing Harri's jacket and hair one more time.

Sometimes, Remus felt like an imposter, taking the form of someone that he wasn't.

~.~.~

The next few years left Remus with more grey hairs than expected.

While he had anticipated a fair share of scrapes, detentions and magical mishaps, Remus was not prepared to deal with rushing to the hospital wing in a panic after finding out that Voldemort had possessed one of the teachers and Harri confronted him. Or restlessly pacing Dumbledore's office, trying to demand answers for why Harri disappeared from the Gryffindor tower, only to find out Harri fought and survived against a Basilisk.

But perhaps the most trying was just before Harri's third year when Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban.

Dumbledore had personally visited him in their little apartment the day of the breakout and sombrely told him the news. His self-consciousness about the shabbiness of the wallpaper or the chipped mug he was using was quickly stamped out with horror and dread of the thought of Sirius coming after Harri to finish what he had started.

As Dumbledore offered him a teaching position and a means to keep another pair of eyes on Harri (and to protect him too in case Sirius came after him as well, he later realized), Remus debated with himself if he should tell Dumbledore now, that Sirius was an Animagi, that they had broken hundreds of rules during his school years and admit he had betrayed Dumbledore's trust all these years.

But he was no sooner closer to coming to a decision when Harri arrived back home from a run to the store. Her eyes comically widened at seeing Dumbledore in their apartment.

Dumbledore cheerfully greeted her as if no crazed convict was coming to murder her and he handed her a bag of sherbet lemons and asked her if he could borrow one of the Muggle magazines she was currently holding. It gave Remus a chance to distract himself and think about which wards and sigils in the apartment that needed to be re-cast.

~.~.~

“ Sirius is – he was your father's best friend,” Remus gently explained. “ James had made him your godfather.”

They were sitting on Harri's bed, the day before she was to return to school and Remus would start his new job. “And he still betrayed my parents to Voldemort?” Harri quietly asked, her voice trembling giving way to her true emotions boiling underneath.

It was a question that haunted Remus for years. “ We may never know why he did,” he sighed. “ We believed there was a traitor in the Order, at least a year before your parents died, but any clues as to who it was went nowhere. For some time, people thought it was me,” he bitterly added.

“ What? Why?” Harri was shocked.

“ Because of what I am. Werewolf attacks during Voldemort's reign were steadily increasing. I passed what information I could to Dumbledore from within the werewolf pack but there was always a suspicion that I had turned sides.”

“ That's wrong,” she said. There was a fierce gleam in her eyes, reminiscent of Lily when she argued for the rights of Muggleborns. “ They shouldn't have treated you like that, just because you are a werewolf.”

Remus smiled. “ James thought the same. He thought it was the height of dishonor to mistrust his friends. I reckoned Sirius was the one telling everyone these lies and not to trust me.”

Harri scooted close to wrap her arms around him. “ Sirius Black can't hurt you anymore,” she softly said.

Deeply touched, all Remus could do was lean down and press a kiss to Harri's forehead. “ When did you become such a wise young lady?” he murmured.

~.~.~

Remus had hoped that as a teacher he would be able to prevent Harri from getting into trouble, but his hopes were dashed when Harri fell fifty feet from the air.

He did not remember much in that moment, just that his heart stopped and he was frozen in his seat with horror, feeling his insides turn to ice as he was about to watch the little girl he raised die before his very eyes.

Dumbledore ran out to the pitch, managing to slow Harri down before she hit the ground. He had never seen Dumbledore look so angry before.

And before he knew it, Remus was running out from the stands also, sprinting to where Harri was. She was so pale and cold as he cradled her to his chest that he almost believed he was too late.

Despite barely recovering from his transformation the day before, Remus managed to brush aside Dumbledore's conjured stretcher and summoned the strength to lift Harri up himself and make his way to the hospital wing as fast as his legs could carry him.

He must have looked like he was holding her dead body because Madam Pomfrey did not even reprimand him for leaving a trail of mud and grass in his haste.

Even though Harri woke up not too long after, Remus remained with her in the hospital wing for the rest of the weekend, gripping her hand tightly when she quietly confessed to him whenever the Dementors drew near, she realized she was hearing her mother screaming as Voldemort killed her.

Even as he watched Harri chatting with her friends and well-wishers and looking less peaky, tendrils of ice remained wrapped around his chest.

After the scare that Sirius had managed to find a way to sneak into the school with a knife on Halloween, Remus thought he would only have to worry about dealing with his former friend.

He had been wrong.

~.~.~

Perhaps that was why Remus easily gave in to Harri's desire to learn how to cast the Patronus Charm.

She wanted to fight, she did not want to feel helpless in the face of danger again. It was a feeling that Remus knew all too well.

He was still somewhat surprised to hear Harri talk and reminisce about several of her happiest moments and wondering which one to choose and that many of them included him.

But regardless, those memories weren't enough and the wisps of silvery smoke emitting from Harri's wand were no match, not even against a Boggart.

Gently telling Harri that they should stop for tonight as he revived Harri for the second time, a bar of chocolate already in hand, Remus thought perhaps he was expecting too much from Harri who despite her raw talent was still only a thirteen year old girl.

Then, Harri shakily told him instead of hearing her mother this time, she heard her father telling her mother to run with Harri while he bought them some time from Voldemort.

“ You heard James?” Remus said in a strangled voice.

Harri nodded. There were tears in her eyes even as she tried to pretend to do her shoelaces so he wouldn't see her face.

This was never how he imagined Harri meeting her parents this way. Harri shouldn't have to hear her parents' voices for the first time like this, listening to them shout in fear, desperate and alone, trying to protect their child up until their very final moments.

This shouldn't be how Harri remembered her parents.

Remus wordlessly bundled her up in his arms, pulling her in close.

Harri let out a choked sob.

At that moment, he hated Sirius all the more for causing Harri to cry like this.

~.~.~

It was almost midnight and Remus was just finishing writing up the last of the assignments for the seventh years when he heard a knock, a soft “ Remus?” and Harri walked into his room.

He barely had enough time to lecture her for sneaking out of the Gryffindor Tower this time of the night (James would have laughed himself hoarse if he'd ever heard Remus say that) when Harri held out the Marauder's Map.

He would have recognized the large ragged piece of parchment anywhere. “ How did you – ?”

“ I found it,” Harri hurriedly said and he decided not to press on the obvious lie she was telling. “ But I was looking at it tonight and I saw someone on there. I saw Peter Pettigrew's name on the map, here in the school.”

He stopped.

“ That can't be right, is it?” Harri nervously asked. “ Maybe the map was wrong or something because I thought Peter Pettigrew was dead.”

So did Remus.

“ The Map doesn't lie,” he slowly said. “ I don't think – ”

There was a shuffle of footsteps coming closer to his door and Remus barely had time to point at the map and mutter, “ Mischief managed!” before his door slammed open and Severus Snape strolled in without announcing himself.

Harri had wrote to him several times regarding Snape and his dislike of her. Remus had initially believed it was simply because Potions was Harri's least favourite subject but now, observing their interactions during the school year and seeing Snape needling and targeting Harri unnecessarily, it made the wolf in him bristle indignantly on Harri's behalf.

Snape's black eyes bore into the two of them. “ And what is a student doing out of bed this late?” he drawled. “ Is strutting around the school during the daytime not enough? Or do you both enjoy dabbling in the moonlight?”

Harri straightened and her eyes flashed dangerously at the deliberate insult towards Remus.

“ Harri and I were discussing plans for the Easter weekend,” Remus smoothly stepped in before Harri could retort. “ We unfortunately did not realize how late it was. My fault entirely.”

Snape pressed his mouth in a humorless thin smile. “ Not all of us think we are above the rules in this school. I'm certain you would know all about that, wouldn't you, Professor Lupin?”

Remus kept a polite smile on. “ Harri, why don't you go to bed?” he said instead. “ It's late and you have Quidditch practice tomorrow morning. Go on.”

Harri shot him a worried look and one more glare at Snape before she did leave.

“ I wish you would not take things out on Harri,” Remus mildly said once he was certain she was out of earshot.

“ Harriet Potter does where she wants, thinking little of any consequences of her actions. Far too much like her father,” Snape sneered. “ She is the sort of person to run headfirst into danger and she thrives with the glory that comes after it. Fighting trolls and basilisks and a ghost of the Dark Lord, never once running to tell a teacher – ”

“ If you are concerned about Harri's safety, you could simply just tell her,” Remus said, somewhat kindly if not firmly, having long figured out Snape's true intentions.

“ And you think the girl has the temperament to listen? She cares nothing about being careful and has no regard for her own safety!”

“ She only wants to do what is right.” Remus paused, choosing his next words carefully. “ She takes after Lily in that aspect.”

Snape looked like he was trying to swallow a bezoar in one go.

Though considering the way this conversation was turning out, an antidote such a bezoar might be needed.

~.~.~

When Remus saw Sirius Black colliding with Peter Pettigrew near the Whomping Willow on the Map, he knew.

While his mind was swirling with the revelation that Sirius was innocent all along and Peter was the real traitor and faked his death all this time, his heart was hammering away knowing Harri was right there with them.

There was no telling what Sirius's mental state was or what Peter would do with Harri so close by.

Remus was already shouting _Expelliarmus_ the moment he hurled into the room and he saw that wands were raised, only realizing a split second later it had been Harri and Hermione pointing their wands at Sirius.

The wands barely clattered on the dusty floor before Remus crossed the distance and reached Harri. “ Are you all right?” he frantically said, grabbing at her shoulders and inspecting the bruises and cuts across her face, evidence of her tussle with the Whomping Willow.

She was still staring at Sirius with a frightfully blank expression, one he had seen long ago in members of the Order fighting against Death Eaters. It was an expression Remus had hoped to never see on her face.

_Why did you stop me from killing the man who betrayed you and killed my parents?_ was what he heard her ask without saying a word.

“ It isn't him,” he said out loud. Hermione and Ron blinked in confusion but Harri stared at him with shock.

Remus turned to the man himself. “ Was it, Sirius?”

Sirius, looking nearly unrecognizable and gaunt in his ragged robes, shook his head. His face was like stone as he pointed one skeletal finger at Ron.

Remus was barely aware of Peter desperately squeaking and trying to escape underneath Ron's clamped hands as Harri gripped his elbow, looking up at him with a silent plea to explain what was happening.

So he did, telling the fantastical story of how his friends became Animagi for him. Harri had heard this story before many times but this time, Remus included Sirius, his prank and how it involved Snape.

Remus could see the dozens of questions Harri, Ron and Hermione wanted to ask and probably would have if Snape did not appear.

“ I should have known that you would be helping your old friend Black into the castle,” Snape said, slightly breathless and very much triumphant. His wand was aimed directly at Remus. “ Potter, get away from him before he gets you killed.”

Harri didn't move. She remained at Remus's side, looking at Snape with wide eyes.

“ Potter, you foolish girl, move or – ”

“ Severus, you're mistaken,” Remus said, sounding a lot more calmer than he felt. Perhaps Harri choosing to explicitly trust him without any doubt or hesitation gave him the strength to look at Snape unflinchingly despite what the circumstances appeared to be. “ You need to listen. Sirius isn't here to kill Harri. I can explain – ”

_Bang!_

Snake-like ropes burst from Snape's wand, binding Remus and causing him to topple over with a muffled cry.

Sirius roared and charged at Snape.

Snape snarled, jabbing his wand at Sirius's face.

But in the end, it was Harri who pointed her wand at Snape and knocked him out.

It was something none of them had expected.

“ Harri – you attacked a teacher,” Hermione said in a hushed voice.

She looked as stunned as they were. “ He attacked Remus first,” Harri finally said, as she bent down to untie him.

“ Thank you, Harri,” Remus managed to say once he could speak. “ That was very brave of you but – ”

“ You shouldn't have done that,” Sirius harshly said. He was looking at Harri with a somewhat amazed expression like he never saw her before. “ You should have left him to me.”

Harri averted her eyes from Sirius. Her fingers tugged uncertainly at Remus's sleeve, a habit she had not done since she was young.

At times like this, Remus wished things were as simple as when all he had to do to make things better was hand Harri a mug of hot chocolate and give her a hug and a kiss.

~.~.~

Seeing Peter Pettigrew in the flesh after all these years, after heaping praises upon him and telling Harri stories of what a brave man he was, Remus felt sick.

His feeble explanations were falling apart at Sirius's accusations and there was no denying the way Peter's eyes kept darting towards the door or the boarded windows and how his face was coated in sweat.

Sirius, who suffered for twelve long years, who had every right to be angry, vengeful and unreasonable, was looking at Harri, his sunken eyes bright and more alive than ever, explaining to Harri what had truly happened and pleading with her to hear him out. Not even to accept him and his actions but just to listen to what he had to say.

And Harri did.

Peter recoiled as if Harri's nod was his death sentence and as far as Remus was concerned, it was.

When he found no allies, trembling from head to toe, Peter turned to Harri.

“ Harri ... Sweet little Harri ... you look just like James ... just like him ...”

His hands were outstretched as if to touch her.

(or wrap his grubby fingers around her neck, his heart seized with fury)

“ Get away from her!” both Remus and Sirius snarled, throwing him back on the ground.

How dare Peter speak to her? How dare he try to manipulate her by saying James's name? How dare he even come close to her?

But Peter had been close enough to Harri all this time as Scabbers, hadn't he?

Peter lived in the same tower as Harri these last three years. At any given time, the moment Peter caught wind that Voldemort was back, he would have captured Harri and delivered her to Voldemort and to the rest of the remaining Death Eaters without any hesitation. And none of them would have caught on to the deception until it was too late.

He thought Harri would be safe at Hogwarts.

And Sirius was the only one to realize she wasn't.

The wolf within him was roaring and lashing out, demanding blood, snapped bone and a brutal death.

For once, Remus agreed with the wolf.

“ Shall we kill him together?” Sirius was smiling without any mirth.

“ Yes.” Remus felt no remorse either. For Peter was currently threatening Harri's safety and he would never allow him to live after that. “ I think so.”

There was hardly any satisfaction at watching Peter bawl and grovel pitifully at their feet. But justice had to be done, for what had happened to James and Lily, to Sirius and to Harri.

He and Sirius raised their wands.

“ Wait!”

Shaken was perhaps the best word to describe what Remus felt as Harri placed herself between them and Peter.

(if Peter dared attack her with her back towards him, Remus couldn't be held responsible for tearing him from limb to limb afterwards)

Breathless but oh so determined, Harri looked at their wands pointed at her face without any fear. “ You can't kill him,” she said. “ You can't.”

Sirius was able to find his voice faster than Remus, already snarling out all the reasons Peter the traitor should be dead.

Because Peter took _everything_ from them.

Lily and James, dead and buried in a cold grave, unable to see their daughter grow up.

Sirius, wrongfully imprisoned, wasting away in Azkaban.

Remus, grieving for his friends and bearing the burden of raising Harri alone.

Harri, only knowing her parents through stories or when the Dementors came too close.

So many missed opportunities, so many things gone wrong.

“ I know,” Harri firmly said. She might look like James but that resolute look in her eyes was all Lily. “ But I don't reckon my dad would've wanted his best friends to become killers.”

Remus and Sirius tried not to flinch because Harri's words – it was just so _James_.

James wouldn't have wanted them to do it, no matter the circumstances.

And Harri was the one to realize it first.

His amazing wonderful little girl realized it first.

Remus's heart swelled with pride, as he lowered his wand. And from the awed look in Sirius's face, so did he.

_Oh James and Lily, you would be so proud of her_

~.~.~

The night unfortunately did not end the way they had all wanted.

Remus, having forgotten to take the Wolfsbane Potion that night, transformed and mindlessly attacked their little group.

Peter, taking advantage of the confusion, slipped away into the darkness.

Dementors swooped down, eager to feast.

Sirius locked up once again, waiting to be delivered back to them to be Kissed.

But by some miracle, Harri and Hermione found a way to be at two places at the same time and rescued both Buckbeak and Sirius.

No one was executed or Kissed or bitten by him and it was the best any of them could have hoped for.

And yet, by the end of the morning, everyone knew Remus was a werewolf.

“ It's not fair,” Harri angrily said while standing in his office.

“ It never is,” Remus said with a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. Most of his things were already packed.

He already anticipated several letters from furious parents condemning him for his condition and the Daily Prophet would incessantly go on about the dangers of werewolves living among regular people and chances are from this incident, more laws and regulations against people like him would be written up, whittling down more job opportunities and places to go to.

But it was the thought of the Ministry forcibly taking Harri away from him that worried him the most.

He had dreaded it all these years but the reality of it happening now was sinking in and he was drowning.

“ Perhaps,” Remus tentatively started. “ It would be best if you go and stay with Ron and his family after school ends.”

Harri's head shot up. “ What? Remus, you can't be – ”

“ I could have bitten you or anyone last night.”

The thought laid heavily on his mind, burdening him even in his waking hours. It would kill him for Harri to leave, but the thought of hurting Harri in some shape or form was far more worse, having haunted him since he first held her as a baby.

“ But you didn't!” Harri fiercely said. “ And it wasn't your fault! I don't care what other people say. I'm not going anywhere. I'm not leaving you.”

“ Harri ...”

She crossed her arms and clenched her jaw as she glared up at him, a look Remus was well familiar with whenever he had politely declined the second and third helpings of food from Lily during meals.

There was a flutter of relief, incredulity and terror mingling in him. A part of him wanted to continue arguing and put his foot down. Another part wanted to just sweep Harri up in an embrace and never let her go.

(it was just like all those years ago, when a young James, loyal steadfast James, said the same things to him, _I'm not leaving you_ , James had said then and now his daughter was doing the same)

Dumbledore had told him when Remus had handed in his resignation letter earlier, with a glint of amusement in his otherwise solemn voice, that he did not think Harri would go quietly.

Remus should have known that Harri would not concede. Harri was always a sweet-tempered child but she could become as stubborn as a mule when it came to things that were important to her.

The realization that _he_ was important to her made Remus breathless and dizzy.

Dumbledore had also reassured Remus that any inquiry from the Ministry regarding Harri's guardianship would be going through him first and he and Harri had his full support. At that time, Remus had declined, there was no need to trouble him, Harri was no longer going to be living with him, but now, he would have to return to Dumbledore's office before he left.

“ All right,” he finally said. “ We will figure something out.”

They always did.

She nodded with a gleam of triumph in her eyes. Remus never did stood a chance, did he?

“ For now, let's get some hot chocolate before I go. I have yet to discover what secret ingredients the house elves use here.”

Harri – his darling lovely _daughter_ – grinned and Remus couldn't help but smile back and allowed a moment to give her a hug and kiss her forehead before they headed down to the kitchen together.


End file.
